What trainer do you have? Do you like it and why?
Please contribute your answer to these two questions. We have been receiving quite a few requests for opinions on trainers. Thank you!
Drew and I both use the Tacx Neo. We have been using two units for over 2 years with zero issues and zero maintenance. No calibration or spin down required. Itās very quiet and tests show power accuracy within 1%. Overall extremely happy with it.
I have a CycleOps Powerbeam Pro. Itās pretty plug and play, very reliable. Have never had any issues with it. I donāt have a power meter so I canāt vouch for the power accuracy. Since itās wheel on, I use a trainer tire for it. I donāt have a dedicated Zwift bike so I have to change the tire a lot. All that practice getting the wheel and tire off and on has made me really good at fixing flats. Silver lining 
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Tacx Neo here too. And Iāve had one of the Elite direct drive ones in the past.
Elite Turbo Muin B+
Pros and cons
Elite unit. Super stable. Really easy to get out of the saddle and go for it with no movement. That Pro is also a Con for some people. I liked it.
It failed though (small leak from main direct drive casing). If that hadnāt happened Iād still be using it. Was reallly easy to get into spiral of doom as was super quick to change power while on erg.
Neo - quite fast at auto regulating power but not TOO fast. Iād say about right and better than the Elite unit.
Accuracy is good from reports. By definition riders will not have the kind of super impressive measuring equipment to prove that. I believe it though.
Cons - sometimes not sure itās actually got the bike sitting level, and the built in āwiggleā to mimic real riding takes a bit of getting used to.
Overall Neo wins in my book, but Iād happily own one of the Elite DD units too
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Iām a Cyclops Hammer user and I really enjoy it. I came from a Kurt Kinetic Trainer which I also loved but didnāt ever enjoy getting a flat tire or having to have a separate wheel set with an old tire on it to train. You would think that when I moved to the hammer the thing I liked the most was the use of it as a smart trainer but in fact for workouts I rarely use it but for reality when racing and riding on Zwift it definitely up the game and took some getting used to. But what I enjoyed the most was the HUGE flywheel that took effort to spin up and kept spinning when you got off the pedals that I felt was more true to outside experience.
In the big picture of things the trainer ends up being only part of the equation with the power meter being the other. Having a reliable and precise power source is key and having that same power meter on you inside and outdoor bikes can be a huge game changer.
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Kickr 2016 - got it at a deep discount from an indoor studio that was upgrading. I still donāt have an outdoor power meter because the used Kickr turned out to be less expensive than a Stages + head unit, and I ride indoors about 5 days a week. The Kickr is reliable and internally consistent. I previously had a wheel on smart trainer that was adequate but the direct drive is definitely an improvement (though I did get a āreality checkā 10 watt decrease in FTP with the upgrade).
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KICKR '14 model. The KICKR reads power from my Stages power meter. I run a USB extension cable to below the Stages meter to reduce interference and improve connectivity.
I had one KICKR bolt or screw loosen last year which was resolved by tightening.
I have changed my bike cassette several times, but not the KICKR cassette. Well, I had the KICKR cassette replaced this afternoon to match my bikeās cassette. I am hoping the shifting on the KICKR will be smoother.